Microchip and Digilent launch first Arduino-compatible 32-bit microcontroller development platform

The folks from Microchip and Digilent have just launched the first 32-bit-microcontroller-based, open-source development platform that is compatible with Arduino hardware and software. Designed and manufactured by Digilent, the chipKIT platform is the first and only 32-bit Arduino solution in the industry to enable hobbyists and academics to easily, and inexpensively, integrate electronics into their projects, even if they do not have an electronic-engineering background.

The platform consists of two PIC32-based development boards and open-source software that is compatible with the Arduino programming language and development environment, thanks to the incredible work done by Mark Sproul and Rick Anderson through Fair Use Building and Research Labs.

The chipKIT hardware is compatible with existing 3.3V Arduino shields and applications, and can be developed using a modified version of the Arduino IDE and existing Arduino resources, such as code examples, libraries, references and tutorials. The platform provides an unprecedented level of features for the Arduino community, and four times the performance of any existing Arduino solution at a low price—the boards start at just $26.95 each.

Hobbyists and academics from many disciplines, such as mechanical engineering, computer science and even art, want easy-to-use, low-cost solutions for creating projects. The PIC32-based chipKIT boards enable 80 MHz performance, and provide up to 512 KB Flash, with up to 128 KB RAM. The boards feature connectivity peripherals, including Ethernet, CAN, and USB (Full-Speed Host, Device and OTG); plus peripherals such as multiple timers, a 16-channel 1 MSPS Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC), two comparators, and multiple I2C™, SPI, and UART interfaces. Not only is chipKIT the first Arduino-compatible platform to provide 32-bit performance, but Microchip’s PIC32 microcontroller is also the highest performance 32-bit microcontroller in its class, featuring the industry-leading MIPS32 M4K core from MIPS Technologies, Inc.

A tremendous software engineering effort has been invested to ensure maximum compatibility with existing Arduino shields, applications and courseware. The Arduino programming environment has been modified and extended so that it supports the PIC32-based chipKIT boards, as well as traditional Arduino boards. The Arduino standard libraries have been also been modified to support chipKIT boards and traditional Arduino boards. All of this work has been contributed back to the open-source Arduino community. Aside from a small number of shields that require 5V operation, many existing Arduino hardware and software sketches are compatible with the chipKIT platform, without modification.

“Students, educators and hobbyists, with or without electronic-engineering backgrounds, are looking for inexpensive solutions that will enable them to easily integrate electronics into their projects,” said Derek Carlson, Microchip’s vice president of Development Systems. “The chipKIT boards and software meet these needs, providing far more features, performance and functionality than any other Arduino solution on the market, at a low cost.”

“The chipKIT platform is the first and only 32-bit solution of its kind in the industry,” said Clint Cole, president of Digilent, Inc. "Academics and hobbyists can plug the boards into their design, download the open-source software and have their project up and running in minutes.”

Art Swift, vice president of marketing and business development for MIPS Technologies, Inc., said, “The chipKIT platform enables academia and hobbyists to experience the superior performance efficiency of the MIPS architecture, which many professional electronics designers have preferred for years.”

Board-specific features, pricing, and availabilityThe chipKIT Uno32 (part # TDGL002) development board is a clone of the Arduino Uno board, and features 128 KB Flash program memory and 16 KB RAM, with two each of the I2C, SPI and UART peripherals. This board is priced at $26.95 each.

A clone of the Arduino Mega board, the chipKIT Max32 (part # TDGL003) development board features 512 KB Flash program memory and 128 KB RAM, with USB, CAN and Ethernet communication, as well as 5 each I2C, 4 each SPI, and 6 each UART peripherals. The chipKIT Max32 board is priced at $49.50 each.

Both chipKIT boards can be ordered today (Click Here). Additionally, the open-source software for both boards is available today (Click Here). chipKIT Network and I/O Shields are expected to be available in June 2011.

For more information, please visit the Digilent Web site (Click Here), or contact Joe Harris at joe@digilentinc.com. More information is also available on Microchip's Web site (Click Here).

Two different 32-bit solutions are presented at the same time - ARM-based and MIPS-based - with about the same price tag for similar configurations. What may be the choice for many users? Is the ratio at least 10:1 ARM vs. MIPS for many available tools for cross-development (incl. open source tools) the major criteria? Who can explain the difference in the efficiency of the code, generated by say GNU C++ compiler, for both types of CPU in the terms of memory usage/performance? How potential users may decide which one of two solutions is better?
I have no clinical idea & I'm very interested to get the reasonable answers onto these (presumably stupid) questions... Thanks.

Max here -- I just received an email from Marti (see above) saying the following (I'll ask the folks from Microchip to comment):
To whom it may concern: I am writing to you regarding false information in this article. The article opens with the following paragraph:
"The folks from Microchip and Digilent have just launched the first 32-bit-microcontroller-based, open-source development platform that is compatible with Arduino hardware and software. Designed and manufactured by Digilent, the chipKIT platform is the first and only 32-bit Arduino solution in the industry to enable hobbyists and academics to easily, and inexpensively, integrate electronics into their projects, even if they do not have an electronic-engineering background."
This is incorrect in several respects. My company, LeafLabs, released a 32-bit, microcontroller based, open source development platform compatible with Arduino's hardware and software in 2009. This platform, the LeafLabs Maple, has been on sale since then. It most definitely allows for hobbyists and academics to integrate electronics into their projects.
For more information, see our devices page:
http://leaflabs.com/devices/
Best regards,
Marti Bolivar
LeafLabs, LLC

Hi,
Interesting article, but it's wrong in an important respect. The LeafLabs Maple, an open source, Arduino-compatible microcontroller platform, has been on sale since 2009 (!).
Full disclosure: I work for LeafLabs.
Best,
Marti Bolivar
LeafLabs, LLC